Running Back To The Bathroom When Leaving The House - Nervous Stomach

The stress of worrying about the possibility of having a bathroom accident causes the bowel to over-react and increases the possibility of an accident!

This can be called ‘anticipatory anxiety’. You are worried about something happening in the future.

Usually people experience anticipatory anxiety because of a specific event that has happened. They have had a bathroom accident or a ‘near accident’. So the brain has every reason to worry because it feels it has the proof of the actual experience to go on.

As with any difficult or negative emotion, it is extremely helpful to let go of judgements and to develop some degree of acceptance. It is also very helpful and healing to give yourself permission to take care of your own needs. Even if that means having to go back in the house to use the toilet. I worked with one client who was eventually able to say to me (and herself) “So what if I have to use the toilet; everyone has to use the toilet.”

What to do...

EFT tapping can be very helpful in dealing with anticipatory anxiety and the ‘nervous stomach’ that goes with it. If you don't know how to tap, please watch this video.

Tip: Tapping the fingertips of your two hands together when you are a passenger in the car will often reduce anxiety and reduce the urge to go back to the toilet. If you are the driver, tap the fingertips of one hand on your thigh or the side of your leg.

These techniques can be practised by just going out and riding around the block. Gradually increase the distance that you travel. This will give the brain a new positive experience of successfully leaving the house. Because you are tapping while driving around, you will be reducing the triggers associated with walking out the door, getting into the car, driving away from the house etc.

EFT can also be used to process the details of the specific event of the bathroom accident or near accident and reduce the emotional intensity and anxiety created by it. This will make it easier to leave the house without the fear that you will have to run back.

I knew a woman who had to pull her van into a parking lot and squat behind a building because she couldn’t get to a bathroom. This incident created feeling of helplessness, shame and embarrassment for her. Tapping through the specific event will reduce these lingering feelings and the anxiety you feel about leaving the house in case you get into a similar situation again.

Here’s a general script for an accident (or near accident). Before you start to tap through it – write down a sentence or two to describe the details of your own experience – In this way your brain will work on your specific incident as you tap through the general script provided below:

KC: Even though I couldn’t get to a toilet and I nearly had an accident, I love and accept myself anyway.

KC: Even though I nearly had an accident and I felt so helpless, I love and accept myself anyway.

KC: Even though I felt so embarrassed and ashamed, I love and accept myself anyway.

Round One:

EB: I couldn’t get to the toilet

SE: I nearly had an accident

UE: I felt so embarrassed

UN: I felt so ashamed

CH: I couldn’t get to a toilet

CB: I nearly had an accident

UA: I felt embarrassed and ashamed

H: Now I’m afraid it might happen again

Round Two:

EB: Even though I’m afraid it might happen again

SE: I love and accept myself anyway

UE: Even though I’m afraid it might happen again

UN: I choose to feel calm and relaxed

CH: Even though I’m afraid it might happen again

CB: I love and accept myself anyway

UA: Even though I worry about having an accident

H: I choose to feel calm and relaxed

Repeat the rounds of tapping until you can think about your own incident in a calm way.

You can also change the words to better suit the details of your own experience and repeat those rounds until the emotional intensity goes down on your own issue.

Here is a tapping script for acceptance and to give yourself permission to care for your needs:

KC: Even though I can’t leave the house without running back to the bathroom, I accept who I am and where I’m at

KC: Even though I can’t leave the house without running back to the bathroom, I choose to give myself permission to go back if I have to

KC: Even though I can’t leave the house without running back to the bathroom, I choose to give myself permission to take care of my needs.

Round One:

EB: I can’t leave the house

SE: I always have to run back

UE: I have to use the bathroom

UN: I never make it out in one try

CH: I can’t leave the house

CB: I always have to run back

UA: I have to use the bathroom

H : I never make it out in one try

Round Two:

EB: Even though I can’t leave the house without running back

SE: I accept who I am and where I’m at with this

UE: Even though I always have to run back

UN: I give myself permission to take care of my needs

CH: Even though I never make it out in one try

CB: I’m open to the possibility that this can change

UA: Even though I can’t leave the house without running back

H : I give myself permission to look after myself

Round Three:

EB: Even though I usually have to run back to the bathroom

SE: I’m open to a new possibility

UE: Even though it’s hard to believe it could be different

UN: I’d be delighted and relieved if it could be

CH: Even though I never make it out in one try

CB: What if I actually did one day

UA: Even though I don’t know if this can change

H : I’m open to believing that it might

This tapping script can be used directly on the physical symptoms of anticipatory anxiety:

KC: Even though I’m feeling anxious about leaving the house, I choose to feel calm and relaxed

KC: Even though I’m feeling anxious and I have a nervous stomach, I choose to feel calm and confident

KC: Even though I feel anxiety in my stomach, I accept myself and I choose to feel calm and relaxed

Round One:

EB: I have a nervous feeling in my stomach

SE: I’m anxious about leaving the house

UE: feeling nervous

UN: feeling anxious

CH: it’s right there in my stomach

CB: I always get a nervous stomach

UA: I’m anxious about leaving the house

H : this nervous feeling in my stomach

Round Two:

EB: What if this feeling could go away

SE: and I could feel calm and relaxed

UE: what if my stomach could settle down

UN: and I could feel calm and relaxed

CH: what if this nervous feeling could go away?

CB: and instead I’d feel calm and peaceful

UA: I’m open to the possibility this could happen

H : I would love to feel calm and peaceful

Use these tapping scripts – or your own versions of them – to “re-train” your brain for less anxiety and more self-acceptance. Try them out more than once a day for a few days, or ahead of time when you are planning to leave the house. Then see how this affects your urge to run back to the house.

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About the Authors:

Hi. We are Karen Alison and Kathy Raymond and we help people self-heal their IBS naturally, with a doctor-recommended method that addresses the least-recognized aspect of this hellish condition – the way the brain triggers uncontrollable symptoms in the gut.

IBS is a lot like having PTSD (also once believed to be untreatable) because of the way your autonomic nervous system is triggered to produce symptoms. But, in a few short sessions, you can learn how to retrain your brain so you shut down the neural pathways that lead straight to diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, and anxiety.

If you don’t deal with this underlying root cause of your problem, you’ll have to spend the rest of your life at the mercy of your Irritable Bowel… and it usually gets worse.

But you can make it stop NOW. Just click on this link for more information and follow the instructions to access the program.

Comments (5)

Hi Jonny,
Not sure what you mean by "this is a scam maybe." If you mean, is EFT tapping a scam, I guess you need to do some more research and probably try it out for yourself. If Latricia has not been successful with it, she may need help...

Hi Jonny,
Not sure what you mean by "this is a scam maybe." If you mean, is EFT tapping a scam, I guess you need to do some more research and probably try it out for yourself. If Latricia has not been successful with it, she may need help applying it effectively. Thousands of people around the world use EFT successfully to deal with physical and emotional health problems. But everyone has to make their own choices. If you're afraid to try something that's free because it's unfamiliar, that's up to you. Usually a scam involves someone cheating you out of money or something you value. Since Latricia is not paying us and she chose - of her own free will - to leave a comment about herself on a publicly-viewed page, I can't see how she is being "scammed." If you mean, is this website or the information on it a scam, again, I would have to say, do your research. We have provided a lot of free natural health information on this site for people to use as they see fit. We're not doctors, we don't diagnose, and there is no way for us to know what else is going on in Latricia's life that could be affecting her digestion or health. This is an information site and, while we do our best to connect with our visitors, frankly, we have no obligation to respond to the comments people leave. If you are interested in how we would have responded to Latricia's questions because you have similar problems, then please be honest instead of attacking us. What we have found is that many people with constipation are stuck in some area of their lives. Once they deal with that, their digestive process becomes easier. Others are constipated because they need to be tested for food sensitivities or they are chronically dehydrated or they don't exercise. A lot of work goes into providing all the free information on this site so, if you feel it's a scam, clearly you need to look elsewhere for your information.

Hi Brad,
Try tapping the tips of the fingers and thumb of one hand against those of the other hand while you think the words. Tapping your fingers together is not an unusual gesture, and there are meridian points near the ends of each finger, so...

Hi Brad,
Try tapping the tips of the fingers and thumb of one hand against those of the other hand while you think the words. Tapping your fingers together is not an unusual gesture, and there are meridian points near the ends of each finger, so you will get the tapping benefits.

Gary Craig, who developed EFT, says you can even imagine you are tapping on each point on your head and torso and it will be effective. I haven't done much of this myself, but you can try it.

Sometimes, when I'm in a public place, I just place my fingers on a tapping point, then slowly move them to another point. You don't necessarily need to touch all the points, but I find when I just put my fingers there and after a while move them to another point, no one really notices, because we often touch our faces in different spots when we're thinking.

Another option is to put your hand across your forehead (if sitting at a desk, lean your forehead into your hand - looks like you're concentrating deeply) while you think about the problem. There are neuro-vascular points in your forehead and when you're stressed, the blood leaves your forebrain. Covering these points brings back the blood circulation to that part of the brain and seems to have a similar effect to tapping if you hold your hand there for at least a minute, while reviewing the problem.

Hi Kathy!! I have been trying the EFT, and it seem like my brain or nerves not responding to it. I feel like nothing can help me I even purchased the book Trauma Release Process. I am lost on what foods to eat for constipation I followed the...

Hi Kathy!! I have been trying the EFT, and it seem like my brain or nerves not responding to it. I feel like nothing can help me I even purchased the book Trauma Release Process. I am lost on what foods to eat for constipation I followed the foods that was mentioned like beets,bananas. The food just sit there ,and won't come down. What Vegetables can I eat with my meats? Thanks you!!!"